Forging the Tempest
by Saint Paul
Summary: Ron Weasley's adventures in creating the ultimate broom. Part of the Project Guardian universe


A/N yes it's that time again folks. Time for me to take a break from the Project Guardian plot, and explore the innermost workings of the mind of one of the characters. Who is it this time? Why it's none other than everyone's favorite gangly redhead. That's right Ronald Billius Weasley. (And believe it or not, that is actually his middle, according to J.K.R)

So without further ado, I present to you: 

The Tempest Forging

            Ron studied the schematics of the broom he was designing.  He'd been designing brooms for Fred and George's expanded shop for a few years. But he'd never even attempted something like this, this wasn't just a broom he was creating. It was a weapon. A weapon that had to be absolutely perfect. 

            The other quartermasters that were working on the project looked at him expectantly. 

            "Well?" Ron frowned as he scrutinized his design, looking for any inherent flaws, anything he'd forgotten to add. He mentally went down the checklist, making sure everything was written down. Protego charm? Check. Braking charm and Reversal spell? Yep. Anti-Jinx? Uh huh.  Black Diamond polish? Of course.  He mentally ticked off the features until he was absolutely sure he'd left nothing out. It was official. They were ready to start building the Tempest. 

            Ron soon found out, much to his dismay that things that work on paper, don't always work too well in real life. In fact as people came to him time and time again with some problem or another… it seemed like nothing was working. 

            "Ron, we've got a problem with the Archavia trees, it seems like they're wilting." 

            Ron sighed and ran his hands through his red hair. "Not again Will. Okay, I'm no herbologist, but did you try mixing powdered moonstone and dragon fang into the soil? Sometimes that helps."

            "Right boss." Will nodded and headed down to the greenhouses by the Fount. Ron had no sooner turned around then he was confronted with a short blonde which in wire rim glasses and white robes, she carried a clip board with a purple colored quill. Ron suppressed a sigh upon seeing her. 

            "Yes Jessica?" He asked. 

            She cleared her throat and regarded her clipboard. "Mr. Weasley, the directors sent me to get an update from you on the progress of the Tempest Project." 

            Ron forced a smile. "Of course. If you'll just follow me, I was on my way down to the lab. I can give you the report on the way." The pair of them headed down the corridor and Ron began his report. 

            "Well, I'm pleased to report that things are well underway in the execution of the Tempest design. The growth of the Archavia trees is coming along nicely." Ron mentally crossed his fingers behind his back. "And the materiel needed for the core has been procured." …_And it's about time too. _

            "Ah yes, speaking of the wand core. I spoke with the representatives from the Wandsmith families. Periwinkle, for one did not seem pleased with your, shall we say, input, in the matter."

            Ron clenched his fist but otherwise remained calm. "If I may say so, Jessica, Alexander Periwinkle, seemed to forget that we were also building a broom, and not just a wand."

            "I don't understand." 

            "Well, for starters, his suggestion to use a Gorgon horn in the core, while valid in theory, did not work well in practice. It seemed that the horn interfered with the levitating charm, and any attempts to fly the da… the broom, would result in …explosion."

            Jessica nodded and made another jot on her clipboard. "I see." She flipped up a paper to loom at the one beneath it. "And what of the Diamond polish?"

            "Coming along splendidly well." Ron lied, through his teeth. 

            "Uh huh."  Jessica muttered, as though she didn't believe him. The nerve!

            At this point they had finally reached the labs, Ron was about to push open the door when a loud explosion erupted and red smoke poured out from the crack beneath the doorway. 

            "Bloody hell!" Ron yelped and charged into the lab. Meanwhile, Jessica was making more notes on her clipboard. 

            "Okay what the hell happened in here?" Ron bellowed, holding a sleeve over his face to block out the fumes.

            "Sorry sir." One of the technicians coughed. "The formula for the polish we were trying didn't react well with the one of the components of the core. It… well, you can see for yourself what happened." 

            Ron nodded. "Let me see the formula you used." The young witch handed him a slip of parchment, Ron read through it carefully. After the second read-through he spotted the problem. "Here's where you went wrong, someone copied this down incorrectly. It's supposed to be a stick of _ebony wood_ not a stick of _bone wood._  This entire batch is ruined." 

            "I… I'm sorry sir."

            Ron sighed and shook his head. "It's not your fault, Alice, someone copied it wrong." He rubbed the bridge of his nose distractedly. "At any rate, other than _that_ how are things coming along down here?" 

            "Well, we've had good progress with the current core combination of Tiamat, Nimbus, Black Unicorn and Gold Phoenix, barring any further mishaps and negative reactions with the real polish and any of the enchantments, I believe we may have actually found the proper combination of elements to finally make this work.

            "Excellent!" Ron beamed. This was going better than he'd hoped. 

"Things couldn't possibly be worse." Ron muttered as he pored over the formula for the unbreakable polish again. It turned out that ebony wood was actually reacting worse than the bone wood ever did. In fact that particular lab was now under heavy detoxification efforts and no one wearing anything less than full-body dragon hide suits was allowed anywhere near it. Ron was just grateful that only one technician had been in the lab and she was fine now (Ginny herself, had overseen reattaching the woman's arms and moving her eyes back to the front of her head.) But Ron was now back at square one as far as coming up with a new formula. Fortunately for everyone involved Ron himself didn't have to come up with the formula. That was someone else's problem, he was terrible with potions. 

To make matters worse Jessica's report had not looked upon him with favor. He'd been called up before the Guardian directors just that morning to explain himself. That hadn't been pretty. If it wasn't for the fact that the only snag in the design that remained was the formula, Ron was sure he'd have been fired on the spot. He had to make this work in order to keep his job. 

There was a knock on the door and William, his head technician and resident potion-brewer poked his head into the room. "Boss? We're ready to try the new formula and set the spells. We figured you'd want to come and see." Ron grinned at his second, hopefully the eighth time would be the charm.  

Once they'd gotten to the lab where the charms and spells would be set, they each placed a pair of safety goggles over their eyes… just in case.

Ron looked at the midnight-black broom that they'd assembled for the prototype, even without the protective polish it was beautiful. Ron grinned at each of his technicians. It had taken them nearly a year to get everything in order, and hopefully, they would finally see that hard work pay off. 

"All right." He nodded to the young man with the bottle of polish. "Cross your fingers everybody. You may proceed, Mr. Corner" The technician nodded and began brushing the broom handle with the thick dark liquid, turning the already dark wood to a darker, glossier color.  

_So far so good._ Ron thought nervously to himself as Corner put the final coat onto the broom. With a nod to Ron, he stepped back and the two Charm casters stepped forward with their wands drawn. 

They looked to Ron for the go-ahead. He nodded, swallowing nervously. "Begin the spell placement." 

_"Wingardium Leviosa!" _ There was a flash of white light and the broom floated serenely off the floor. They all waited for a minute, to make sure everything was okay. Then the second charm caster stepped forward. 

"_Altus__ pefectus!" _The charm to control the braking and maneuverability. They waited a moment again before Ron signaled for the next charm to be placed.

            _"Locomotor Mobiliar!" _ Was added to make the broom able to move, when needed too. Which was always important in a broom. The butterflies in Ron's stomach were now going crazy. They were so close, it was almost over with. 

            _"Translucia!" _ Gave the broom the ability to turn invisible when need be. 

            "_Protego!" _ The shield charm gave the rider protection from attacks and wind-speed. That was the last spell they needed, now they just needed to bind all the magics together. Ron drew his own wand. As this was his project, he had the honor of placing the binding spell on it. 

            _"Permio!" _The broom became surrounded by an aura of multicolored light that pulsed and shimmered mystically. Ron gazed at the kaleidoscope of color, reds and whites and oranges, blue and yellow, and green all mixed together until it became so blinding that he had to look away. Then, after a moment, the light winked out and the broom returned to normal. This was it, he was done. The broom was finished. 

            It had taken him and his team nearly a year, (ten months, three weeks, four days sixteen hours and forty-seven minutes to be precise) to complete this broom. And now it was finished. 

_"Finite incantatem."  _Ron muttered and the broom drifted back onto the floor. It didn't blow up, didn't catch on fire, didn't release noxious and poisonous fumes into the air. It was perfect, it worked. 

            "IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!" Ron screamed, throwing his head back and laughing insanely. 

            He'd always wanted to do that. 


End file.
